Efficacy of various doses of salicylic acid, naphthalene acetic acid and gibberellic acid on vegetative growth and pod yield of broad bean (Vicia faba L.)

To investigate the efficacy of various doses of plant growth regulators on vegetative growth and pod yield of broad bean (Vicia faba L.), a field experiment was accomplished at Vegetable Research Farm, B.H.U., Varanasi during the winter season of 2019-20. Ten treatments were evaluated in randomized block design with three replications. Results indicated that the growth parameters like plant height, number of branches/plant significantly increased with foliar spray of gibberellic acid followed by NAA and salicylic acid. The yield attributes like pod width, fresh pod weight, number of pods/plant as well as fresh pod yield significantly enhanced by NAA followed by gibberellic acid and salicylic acid with various concentrations, respectively. The foliar spraying of 120 ppm GA3 tended to produce plant with maximum height (116.4 cm), number of branches/plant (6.3), pod length (7.5 cm), number of seeds/pod (4.6) as well as early 50 % flowering (57.3 days) whereas, spraying of 40 ppm NAA exhibited the maximum pod width (1.3 cm), fresh pod weight (4.6 g), number of pods/plant (87.5) as well as fresh pod yield (105.0 q ha-1) as compared to other treatments. The maximum net return (Rs. 337326.5 ha-1) was recorded with 40 ppm NAA with B: C ratio of 3.65 followed by 30 ppm NAA and 20 ppm NAA. The lowest net income (Rs. 162382.5 ha-1) and B: C ratio (1.76) was obtained from control. The spraying of NAA was found superior in terms of yield and yield attributes as well as benefit cost ratio followed by GA3 and salicylic acid.